Methods, devices, and systems for home based electric vehicle (EV) charging

ABSTRACT

Methods, devices, and systems are disclosed for home based electric vehicle (EV) charging. According to one embodiment, a method is implemented on an EV charger for determining relative position of a mobile device to an EV charger in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The method includes receiving known location data associated with a global position of the EV charger, wherein the known location data has an accuracy better than 10 centimeters, receiving first global navigation satellite system (GNSS) timestamped data associated with the EV charger from a first constellation of GNSS satellites, determining first GNSS location data based on the first GNSS timestamped data, and determining first GNSS error data based on the first GNSS location data and the known location data.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation application of PCT Patent ApplicationNo. PCT/US2022/076331 filed Sep. 13, 2022, which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/243,381 filed Sep. 13,2021; the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.63/275,468 filed Nov. 4, 2021; and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 63/331,450 filed Apr. 15, 2022; the entirecontents of which are all hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to the field of electric vehicle(EV) chargers. More particularly, methods, devices, and systems aredisclosed for home based EV charging.

BACKGROUND

With the growth of electric vehicles (EVs), the EV charging equipmentmarket is expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR)exceeding 27 percent through 2025. In addition to the public chargers,users are installing home based EV chargers for convenience. In additionto the added costs of purchasing an EV, the home based charger andinstallation adds even more costs. However, home based EV chargersenable new opportunities for targeted advertising. Targeted advertisinghas the objective of delivering an advertisement to a user who is likelyto find the advertising useful and suited to his interests and, thus,act, such as to purchase the advertised product or service, based on theadvertisement.

Accordingly, there remains a need for improved methods, devices, andsystems for home based EV charging. Additionally, a need exists to helpoffset the cost of obtaining and using home based EV chargers.

SUMMARY

Disclosed herein are methods, devices, and systems for home basedelectric vehicle (EV) charging. Additionally, methods, devices, andsystems are disclosed for offsetting costs associated with home based EVcharging.

According to one embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes detecting a presence of a userwithin a proximity of a home-based electric vehicle (EV) charger,receiving user information provided by the user, determining chargingenabled parking space influenced media data based on the userinformation, and transmitting the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data to a user interface (UI) associated with thehome-based EV charger. The home-based EV charger is provided to the userat least partially in response to receiving the user information.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user surveyinformation. In certain embodiments, the user survey information may berequested during a user EV charger account registration by the user.

In some embodiments, the user information may also include user socialnetworking information.

In certain embodiments, the user social networking information may beprovided by an Instagram® account, a YouTube® account, a Facebook®account, a Twitter® account, a TikTok® account, a Pinterest® account, aSnapchat® account, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user professionalnetworking information. In certain embodiments, the user professionalnetworking information may be provided by a LinkedIn® account, a Chamberof Commerce account, a SCORE® account, a Rotary Club account, and/or thelike.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user technicalprofession organization information.

In certain embodiments, the user technical profession organizationinformation may be provided by at least one of an Association forComputing Machinery ACM® account, a Network Professional Associationaccount, a CompTIA® account, an Association for Women in Computingaccount, an Association of Information Technology Professionals account,a National Society of Professional Engineers account, an AmericanAssociation of Engineering Societies account, a Society of WomenEngineers account, an International Engineering Consortium account, anElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE®) account, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user purchasinginformation. In certain embodiments, the user purchasing information mayinclude user home ownership information and the user home ownershipinformation may include a user physical address. In further embodiments,determining charging enabled parking space influenced media data may befurther based on an assessed value of the user physical address.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may include an advertisement, a product promotion, a productplacement, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining anoffset value used to offset a purchase price of the home-based EVcharger based on the user information. In certain embodiments,determining the offset value may be further based on receiving referralinformation on a referral person from the user. In further embodiments,the referral information may include a first portion provided by theuser during a user EV charger account registration and a second portionmay be provided by the referral person during a referral EV chargeraccount registration.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user purchasinginformation of the user and the referral information may includereferral purchasing information of the referral person.

In some embodiments, the user information may include an assessed valueof a physical address associated with the user and the referralinformation may include an assessed value of a physical addressassociated with the referral person.

In some embodiments, the user information may include historical userinformation.

In some embodiments, the user information may include near real timeuser information.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may include garage influenced media data.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for detecting apresence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EV charger,receiving user information provided by the user, determining chargingenabled parking space influenced media data based on the userinformation, and transmitting the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data to a UI associated with the home-based EV charger.The home-based EV charger is provided to the user at least partially inresponse to receiving the user information.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includesdetecting a presence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EVcharger, receiving user information provided by the user, determiningcharging enabled parking space influenced media data based on the userinformation, and transmitting the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data to a UI associated with the home-based EV charger.The home-based EV charger is provided to the user at least partially inresponse to receiving the user information.

According to another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes detecting a presence of a userwithin a proximity of a home-based EV charger, receiving chargingrelated data associated with the user, determining charging enabledparking space influenced media data based on the user charging data, andtransmitting the charging enabled parking space influenced media data toa UI associated with the home-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the charging related data may include firstcharging data associated with the user using the home-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the charging related data may further includesecond charging data associated with the user that is distinct from thehome-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the charging related data may be associated with aplurality of EV vehicles.

In some embodiments, the charging related data may include an estimatedamount of energy used for each charging session.

In some embodiments, the charging related data may include an estimatedcost for each charging session.

In some embodiments, the charging related data may include a delta timebetween a first charging event and a second charging event.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving homeautomation data associated with a location of the home-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the home automation data may includeInternet-of-Things (IoT) data associated with a plurality of IoTdevices.

In some embodiments, the home automation data may be received via anapplication programming interface (API) of a virtual assistant.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may include a ranking of EV energy use associated with the user ascompared with a plurality of other users. The plurality of other usersmay be distinct from the user.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving othercharging data associated with the plurality of other users, anddetermining the ranking of EV energy use associated with the user basedon the user charging data and the other charging data.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining theplurality of other users based on a location of the home-based EVcharger and locations of a plurality of other home-based EV chargersassociated with the plurality of other users.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining theplurality of other users based on a vehicle type associated with theuser and a plurality of other vehicle types associated with theplurality of other users.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining theplurality of other users based on a vehicle type associated with theuser and a plurality of other vehicle types associated with theplurality of other users.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining theplurality of other users based on networking information associated withthe user and the plurality of other users, wherein the networkinginformation includes at least one of social networking information andprofessional networking information.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining anincentive for the user based on the ranking of EV energy use associatedwith the user.

In some embodiments, the incentive may be applied to offset a purchasecost of the home-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may include garage influenced media data.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for detecting apresence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EV charger,receiving charging related data associated with the user, determiningcharging enabled parking space influenced media data based on the usercharging data, and transmitting the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data to a UI associated with the home-based EV charger.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includesdetecting a presence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EVcharger, receiving charging related data associated with the user,determining charging enabled parking space influenced media data basedon the user charging data, and transmitting the charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data to a UI associated with the home-based EVcharger.

According to another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes receiving purchase informationdata associated with a user, determining purchasing pattern data basedon the purchase information data, determining charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data based on the purchasing pattern data,detecting a presence of the user within a proximity of a home-based EVcharger, and transmitting the charging enabled parking space influencedmedia data to a UI associated with the home-based EV charger upondetecting the presence of the user.

In some embodiments, the purchase information data may include energypurchase data.

In some embodiments, the energy purchase data may include EV chargerusage data.

In some embodiments, the EV charger usage data may include EV locationdata and time-of-charge data.

In some embodiments, the energy purchase data may include home energypurchase data.

In some embodiments, the purchasing pattern data may include a frequencyof two or more purchases, a timing of the two or more purchases, and/ora quantity of the two or more purchases.

In some embodiments, at least a portion of the purchase information datamay include receipt data of a specific purchase.

In some embodiments, the purchasing pattern data may include a necessityfactor associated with the specific purchase.

In some embodiments, at least of portion of the purchase informationdata may be provided by an application programming interface associatedwith a virtual assistant.

In some embodiments, at least of portion of the purchase informationdata may be provided by user survey information.

In some embodiments, the user survey information may be requested duringa user EV charger account registration by the user.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata and the UI may provide a point-of-sale (POS) interface.

In some embodiments, the POS interface may be associated with a loyaltyprogram subscribed to by the user and the UI may be electrically coupledwith the home-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining anincentive for the user based at least partially on the purchasingpattern data.

In some embodiments, the purchasing information data may include EVownership information and the EV ownership information includes at leasttwo EV purchases.

In some embodiments, the purchasing information data may include userhome ownership information and the user home ownership information mayinclude at least two home purchases.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may include an advertisement, a product promotion, a productplacement, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining anoffset value used to offset a purchase price of the home-based EVcharger based on the purchasing pattern data.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may include garage influenced media data.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for receivingpurchase information data associated with a user, determining purchasingpattern data based on the purchase information data, determiningcharging enabled parking space influenced media data based on thepurchasing pattern data, detecting a presence of the user within aproximity of a home-based EV charger, and transmitting the chargingenabled parking space influenced media data to a UI associated with thehome-based EV charger upon detecting the presence of the user.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includesreceiving purchase information data associated with a user, determiningpurchasing pattern data based on the purchase information data,determining charging enabled parking space influenced media data basedon the purchasing pattern data, detecting a presence of the user withina proximity of a home-based EV charger, and transmitting the chargingenabled parking space influenced media data to a UI associated with thehome-based EV charger upon detecting the presence of the user.

According to another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes detecting a presence of a userwithin a proximity of a home-based EV charger, receiving userinformation associated with the user, determining charging enabledparking space influenced media data based on historical user informationprovided by the user, and transmitting the charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data to a UI associated with the home-based EVcharger. The charging enabled parking space influenced media datacomprises an environmental impact index associated with the user.

In some embodiments, the environmental impact index may be determinedbased on an estimated carbon footprint associated with the user.

In some embodiments, the user information may include energy purchasedata associated with the user.

In some embodiments, the energy purchase data may include home energypurchase data.

In some embodiments, the energy purchase data may include home energypurchase data.

In some embodiments, the energy purchase data may include a cost perunit volume of energy.

In some embodiments, the user information may include a mileagecomponent associated of an EV associated with the user.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user submittedpurchase data.

In some embodiments, the user submitted purchase data may include EVpurchase data.

In some embodiments, the user submitted purchase data may includeheating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) purchase data.

In some embodiments, the user submitted purchase data may includereceipt data. In certain embodiments, the user submitted purchase datamay include at least one electronically scanned receipt. In furtherembodiments, the user submitted purchase data may include at least oneemailed receipt.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may further include information on a redeemable token. Theredeemable token may be issued based on the user information.

In some embodiments, the redeemable token may include a user option fora charitable contribution.

In some embodiments, the redeemable token may include a user option tocredit towards an energy purchase.

In some embodiments, the user information may include purchaseinformation data provided by an application programming interface (API)associated with a virtual assistant.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may be provided at least partially in response to receiving theuser information.

In some embodiments, the user information may be historical userinformation.

In some embodiments, the user information may be near real time userinformation.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may include garage influenced media data.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for detecting apresence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EV charger,receiving user information associated with the user, determiningcharging enabled parking space influenced media data based on historicaluser information provided by the user, and transmitting the chargingenabled parking space influenced media data to a UI associated with thehome-based EV charger. The charging enabled parking space influencedmedia data comprises an environmental impact index associated the user.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includesdetecting a presence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EVcharger, receiving user information associated with the user,determining charging enabled parking space influenced media data basedon historical user information provided by the user, and transmittingthe charging enabled parking space influenced media data to a UIassociated with the home-based EV charger. The charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data comprises an environmental impact indexassociated the user.

According to another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes determining a first plurality ofavailable charging appointments associated with a first chargingschedule associated with a first home-based EV charger, providing thefirst plurality of available charging appointments to a first graphicaluser interface (GUI) of a first client computing device associated witha first user, receiving a first appointment selection of the firstplurality of available charging appointments from the first GUI, andproviding a first confirmed charging appointment indication to the firstGUI associated with the first appointment selection.

In some embodiments, the method may further include providing a firstplurality of estimated costs for charging associated with the firstplurality of available charging appointments.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving firstlocation data associated with first client computing device, andreceiving second location data associated with the first home-based EVcharger. The first plurality of available charging appointments may bebased on the first location data and the second location data.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving the firstcharging schedule from a second GUI associated with a second clientcomputing, wherein the second client computing device is associated witha first owner of the first home-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the method may further include providing a firstrequest charging appointment indication to the second GUI upon receivingthe first appointment selection.

In some embodiments, the method may further include providing first userprofile information to the second GUI upon receiving the firstappointment selection.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving firstauthorization indication associated with the first request chargingappointment indication from the second GUI.

In some embodiments, the method may further include providing a firstcharging authorization code to the first client computing device, andproviding the first charging authorization code and an authorized timewindow to the first home-based EV charger.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving a firstcharging event complete indication associated with the first chargingauthorization code from the first home-based EV charger, providing adebit authorization to a first monetary account associated with thefirst user, and providing a credit authorization to an second monetaryaccount associated with the first owner.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining anenvironmental impact index associated with the first location data andthe second location data, and providing a redeemable token to the firstclient computing device based on the environmental impact index.

In some embodiments, the first user computing device may be a smartphone, a tablet, a smart watch, a smart TV, a laptop, a personalcomputer, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the first client computing device may be embeddedwithin an EV associated with the first user.

In some embodiments, the server may be a virtual server hosted in acloud computing environment.

In some embodiments, the server may provide a first secure web portal tothe first GUI.

In some embodiments, the first GUI may be provided by a firstapplication specific program executing on the first client computingdevice. In certain embodiments, the first application specific programmay be an iOS® app, an Android® OS app, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the first GUI may be provided by a first webbrowser. In certain embodiments, the first web browser may be aMicrosoft Internet Explorer® browser, a Microsoft Edge® browser, anApple Safari® browser, a Google Chrome® browser, a Mozilla Firefox®browser, an Opera® browser, and/or the like.

In another embodiment, a server includes a memory and at least oneprocessor. The at least one processor is configured for determining afirst plurality of available charging appointments associated with afirst charging schedule associated with a first home-based EV charger,providing the first plurality of available charging appointments to afirst GUI of a first client computing device associated with a firstuser, receiving a first appointment selection of the first plurality ofavailable charging appointments from the first GUI, and providing afirst confirmed charging appointment indication to the first GUIassociated with the first appointment selection.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includesdetermining a first plurality of available charging appointmentsassociated with a first charging schedule associated with a firsthome-based EV charger, providing the first plurality of availablecharging appointments to a first GUI of a first client computing deviceassociated with a first user, receiving a first appointment selection ofthe first plurality of available charging appointments from the firstGUI, and providing a first confirmed charging appointment indication tothe first GUI associated with the first appointment selection.

In another embodiment, a method is implemented on an electric vehicle(EV) charger for determining relative position of a mobile device to anEV charger in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Themethod includes receiving known location data associated with a globalposition of the EV charger, wherein the known location data has anaccuracy better than 10 centimeters, receiving first global navigationsatellite system (GNSS) timestamped data associated with the EV chargerfrom a first constellation of GNSS satellites, determining first GNSSlocation data based on the first GNSS timestamped data, and determiningfirst GNSS error data based on the first GNSS location data and theknown location data.

In some embodiments, the method may further include transmitting thefirst GNSS error data to a mobile device, wherein the mobile device isconfigured to determine a relative position to the EV charger based onthe first GNSS error data.

In some embodiments, the mobile device may be at least one of an EV, asmart phone, a smart tablet, and a smart watch.

In some embodiments, the method may further include providing chargingenabled parking space influenced media data to a user interface (UI)associated with the EV charger based on the relative position.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving secondGNSS timestamped data associated with a mobile device within proximityof the EV charger and at least a portion of the first constellation ofGNSS satellites, and determining a relative position of the mobiledevice to the EV charger based on the second GNSS timestamped data andthe first GNSS error data.

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving secondGNSS location data associated with a mobile device within proximity ofthe EV charger, wherein second GNSS location data was determined basedon second GNSS timestamped data associated with the mobile device and atleast a portion of the first constellation of GNSS satellites; anddetermining a relative position of the mobile device to the EV chargerbased on the second GNSS timestamped data and the first GNSS error data.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may be used to offset costs associated with home-based EV charging.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may further be based on user information. In further embodiments,the user information may include user survey information and/or usersocial networking information. In further embodiments, the user surveyinformation may be requested during a user EV charger accountregistration by the user.

In some embodiments, the known location data may have an accuracy betterthan 50 centimeters. In further embodiments, the known location data mayhave an accuracy better than 20 centimeters. In still furtherembodiments, the known location data may have an accuracy better than 10centimeters. In still further embodiments, the known location data mayhave an accuracy better than 5 centimeters. In still furtherembodiments, the known location data may have an accuracy better than 2centimeters.

In another embodiment, an EV charger includes EV charging circuitry, amemory, and at least one processor. The at least one processor isconfigured for (1) receiving known location data associated a globalposition of the EV charger, (2) receiving first global navigationsatellite system (GNSS) timestamped data associated with the EV chargerfrom a first constellation of GNSS satellites, (3) determining firstGNSS location data based on the first GNSS timestamped data, and (4)determining first GNSS error data based on the first GNSS location dataand the known location data. The known location data has an accuracybetter than 10 centimeters.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumis disclosed. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storesinstructions to be implemented on an EV charger including at least oneprocessor. The instructions when executed by the at least one processorcause the EV charger to perform a method. The method includes (1)receiving known location data associated a global position of the EVcharger, (2) receiving first global navigation satellite system (GNSS)timestamped data associated with the EV charger from a firstconstellation of GNSS satellites, (3) determining first GNSS locationdata based on the first GNSS timestamped data, and (4) determining firstGNSS error data based on the first GNSS location data and the knownlocation data. The known location data has an accuracy better than 10centimeters.

In some embodiments, the known location data may have an accuracy betterthan 5 centimeters. In certain embodiments, the known location data mayhave an accuracy better than 2 centimeters.

According to another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes detecting a presence of a userwithin a proximity of a home-based EV charger, determining chargingenabled parking space influenced media data based on user information,and transmitting the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata to at least one of a UI associated with the home-based EV chargerand a UI associated with a mobile device.

In some embodiments, the mobile device may be an EV, a smart phone, asmart tablet, a smart watch, or the like associated with the user.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may be used to offset costs associated with home-based EV charging.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for detecting apresence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EV charger,determining charging enabled parking space influenced media data basedon user information, and transmitting the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data to at least one of a UI associated with thehome-based EV charger and a UI associated with a mobile device.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includesdetecting a presence of a user within a proximity of a home-based EVcharger, determining charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata based on user information, and transmitting the charging enabledparking space influenced media data to at least one of a UI associatedwith the home-based EV charger and a UI associated with a mobile device.

In another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least one computingdevice. The method includes determining a plurality of media items forsimultaneous viewing on a user interface (UI) associated with ahome-based EV charger. The method further includes transmitting theplurality of media items to the UI associated with the home-based EVcharger.

In some embodiments, each media item of the plurality of media items maybe associated with a distinct sponsor.

In some embodiments, a first media item of the plurality of media itemsmay be a background for the UI associated with the home-based EVcharger. In further embodiments, the background may be branded by afirst sponsor.

In some embodiments, a second media item of the plurality of media itemsmay be a widget for the UI associated with the home-based EV charger. Infurther embodiments, the widget may be branded by a second sponsor.

In some embodiments, the widget may be a clock based widget, a calendarbased widget, a weather based widget, and/or the like. In otherembodiments, the widget may be a countdown based widget. In furtherembodiments, the countdown based widget may be associated with aremaining charge time of an EV being charged by the home-based EVcharger.

In some embodiments, the widget may be associated with a ranking of EVenergy use associated with the user as compared with a plurality ofother users. In some embodiments, the widget may also be associated witha carbon footprint of the user.

In some embodiments, the UI may be a touchpad display physically coupledwith the EV charger. In further embodiments, the method may furtherinclude receiving a timestamp and a media identification associated withan interaction with a media item on the touchpad display.

In some embodiments, determining the plurality of media items forsimultaneous viewing may be based on user survey information, usersocial networking information, user purchasing information, and/or thelike.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for determininga plurality of media items for simultaneous viewing on a user interface(UI) associated with a home-based EV charger. The at least one processoris further configured for transmitting the plurality of media items tothe UI associated with the home-based EV charger.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includesdetermining a plurality of media items for simultaneous viewing on auser interface (UI) associated with a home-based EV charger. The methodfurther includes transmitting the plurality of media items to the UIassociated with the home-based EV charger.

According to another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes (1) determining a plurality ofmedia items for possible simultaneous viewing on a user interface (UI)associated with a home-based electric vehicle (EV) charger, (2)providing representations of the plurality of media items to the UI, (3)receiving a selection representing a subset of the plurality of mediaitems from the UI; and (4) transmitting the subset of the plurality ofmedia items to the UI.

In some embodiments, determining the plurality of media items may bebased on a profile of a user of the home-based EV charger. In certainembodiments, the profile may include user information provided by theuser. In further embodiments, the user information may include usersurvey information. The user survey information may be requested duringa user EV charger account registration by the user.

In still further embodiments, the user information may include usersocial networking information. For example, the user social networkinginformation may be provided an Instagram® account, a YouTube® account, aFacebook® account, a Twitter® account, a TikTok® account, a Pinterest®account, a Snapchat® account, and/or the like.

In still further embodiments, the user information may include userprofessional networking information. For example, the user professionalnetworking information may be provided by a LinkedIn® account, a Chamberof Commerce account, a SCORE® account, a Rotary Club account, and/or thelike.

In still further embodiments, the user information may include usertechnical profession organization information. For example, the usertechnical profession organization information may be provided by an ACM®account, a Network Professional Association account, a CompTIA® account,an Association for Women in Computing account, an Association ofInformation Technology Professionals account, a National Society ofProfessional Engineers account, an American Association of EngineeringSocieties account, a Society of Women Engineers account, anInternational Engineering Consortium account, an IEEE® account, and/orthe like.

In still further embodiments, the user information may include userpurchasing information. For example, the user purchasing information mayinclude user home ownership information and the user home ownershipinformation may include a user physical address.

In some embodiments, each media item of the plurality of media items maybe associated with a distinct sponsor.

In some embodiments, a first media item of the subset of the pluralityof media items may be a background for the UI. In certain embodiments,the background may be branded by a first sponsor.

In some embodiments, a second media item of the plurality of media itemsmay be a widget for the UI. In certain embodiments, the widget may bebranded by a second sponsor.

In further embodiments, the widget may be a clock based widget.

In other embodiments, the widget may be a calendar based widget.

In still other embodiments, the widget may be a weather based widget.

In still other embodiments, the widget may be a countdown based widget.In further embodiments, the countdown based widget may be associatedwith a remaining charge time of an EV being charged by the home-based EVcharger.

In still other embodiments, the widget may be associated with a rankingof EV energy use associated with a user as compared with a plurality ofother users.

In still other embodiments, the widget may be associated with a carbonfootprint of a user.

In some embodiments, the UI may include a touchpad display physicallycoupled with the EV charger and the touchpad display is configured toprovide a graphical user interface (GUI).

In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving atimestamp and a media identification associated with an interaction witha media item on the touchpad display.

In some embodiments, the UI may be implemented within the home-based EVcharger.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for (1)determining a plurality of media items for possible simultaneous viewingon a UI associated with a home-based electric EV charger, (2) providingrepresentations of the plurality of media items to the UI, (3) receivinga selection representing a subset of the plurality of media items fromthe UI; and (4) transmitting the subset of the plurality of media itemsto the UI.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includes (1)determining a plurality of media items for possible simultaneous viewingon a UI associated with a home-based EV charger, (2) providingrepresentations of the plurality of media items to the UI, (3) receivinga selection representing a subset of the plurality of media items fromthe UI; and (4) transmitting the subset of the plurality of media itemsto the UI.

According to another embodiment, a method is implemented on at least onecomputing device. The method includes (1) determining a plurality ofmedia items for possible simultaneous viewing on a first UI implementedwithin a home-based EV charger, (2) providing representations of theplurality of media items to a second UI associated with a user of thehome based EV charger, (3) receiving a selection representing a subsetof the plurality of media items from the second UI; and (4) transmittingthe subset of the plurality of media items to the first UI.

In some embodiments, the first UI may include a touchpad displayphysically coupled with the EV charger and the touchpad display may beconfigured to provide a first GUI.

In some embodiments, the second UI may be implemented within a smartphone, a tablet, a smart watch, a smart TV, a laptop, a personalcomputer or the like. In further embodiments, the second UI may beconfigured to provide a second GUI.

In another embodiment, a computing device includes a memory and at leastone processor. The at least one processor is configured for (1)determining a plurality of media items for possible simultaneous viewingon a first UI implemented within a home-based EV charger, (2) providingrepresentations of the plurality of media items to a second UIassociated with a user of the home based EV charger, (3) receiving aselection representing a subset of the plurality of media items from thesecond UI; and (4) transmitting the subset of the plurality of mediaitems to the first UI.

In another embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstores instructions to be implemented on at least one computing device.The at least one computing device includes at least one processor. Theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method. The method includes (1)determining a plurality of media items for possible simultaneous viewingon a first UI implemented within a home-based EV charger, (2) providingrepresentations of the plurality of media items to a second UIassociated with a user of the home based EV charger, (3) receiving aselection representing a subset of the plurality of media items from thesecond UI; and (4) transmitting the subset of the plurality of mediaitems to the first UI.

In another embodiment, an EV charger includes (1) a processor, (2) amemory electrically coupled with the processor, (3) EV chargingcircuitry electrically coupled with the processor, (4) a networkinterface electrically coupled with the processor, and (5) a broadcasttransmitter electrically coupled with the processor.

In some embodiments, the broadcast transmitter may be configured toprovide an over-the-air (OTA) signal to a television. In furtherembodiments, the OTA signal is compliant to at least one version of anAdvanced Television Systems Committee standard, a Digital VideoBroadcast-Terrestrial (DVD-T) system standard, or the like.

In some embodiments, the EV charger may further include an antennaelectrically coupled with an output of the broadcast transmitter. Infurther embodiments, the antenna may be a dipole antenna, a loopantenna, a log periodic antenna, a multi-bay reflective array antenna,or the like.

In some embodiments, the EV charger may further include a broadcastreceiver and a tuner electrically coupled with the processor. In certainembodiments, the broadcast receiver and the tuner may be configured todetermine channel spectrum availability for the broadcast transmitter.In certain embodiments, the EV charger may further include a displayelectrically coupled with the broadcast receiver and the tuner.

In some embodiments, the EV charger may be configured for receivingcharging enabled parking space influenced media data over the networkinterface and transmitting at least a portion of the charging enabledparking space influenced media data via the broadcast transmitter.

In some embodiments, the portion of the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data may be used to offset costs associated withhome-based EV charging.

In some embodiments, the EV charger may further include transcodingcircuitry electrically coupled between the processor and the broadcasttransmitter, and the transcoding circuitry may be configured totranscode the charging enabled parking space influenced media data toprovide the portion of the charging enabled parking space influencedmedia data.

In some embodiments, the network interface may be configured to receivethe charging enabled parking space influenced media data over theInternet.

In another embodiment, a method is implemented on an EV charger having abroadcast transmitter and a network interface. The method includes (1)receiving charging enabled parking space influenced media data over thenetwork interface and (2) transmitting at least a portion of thecharging enabled parking space influenced media data.

In some embodiments, the portion of the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data may be used to offset costs associated withhome-based EV charging.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may be determined based on user information.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user surveyinformation.

In some embodiments, the user information may include user socialnetworking information.

In some embodiments, the broadcast transmitter may be configured toprovide an over-the-air (OTA) signal to a television.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining channelspectrum availability using a broadcast receiver and tuner.

In some embodiments, the method may further include transcoding thecharging enabled parking space influenced media data to provide theportion of the charging enabled parking space influenced media data.

In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata may be received over the Internet.

The features and advantages described in this summary and the followingdetailed description are not all-inclusive. Many additional features andadvantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in viewof the drawings, specification, and claims presented herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present embodiments are illustrated by way of example and are notintended to be limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings. Inthe drawings:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram illustrating a system that includes anelectric vehicle (EV) charger server, an EV charger, and an EV, and amobile device in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram further illustrating the EV charger ofFIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts a mechanical diagram further illustrating the EV chargerof FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram further illustrating the mobile device ofFIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing chargingenabled parking space influenced media data based on user informationincluding user survey information in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing chargingenabled parking space influenced media data based on charging relateddata associated with a user in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing chargingenabled parking space influenced media data based on purchasing patterndata in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing chargingenabled parking space influenced media data including an environmentalimpact index associated with a user in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing homebased EV chargers to a plurality of users in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for determiningrelative position of a mobile device to an EV charger in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing aplurality of media items to a user interface (i.e. a touchpad display)of a home based EV charger in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 12 depicts a diagram illustrating a graphical user interface (GUI)of the home based EV charger of FIG. 11 in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 depicts a diagram illustrating automated attribute-based mediapublishing for home-based EV chargers in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B depict a flow diagram illustrating a participantselection and onboarding process in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 15 depicts a diagram illustrating a home based EV charger having aGUI depicting a plurality of widgets in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 16 depicts a diagram illustrating another GUI that may be providedby the home based EV charger of FIG. 15 in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing a GUI toa home based EV charger in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 18 depicts a flowchart illustrating another method for providing aGUI to a home based EV charger in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 19 depicts a block diagram illustrating the home based EV chargerof FIG. 15 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 20 depicts a flowchart illustrating a method for providing chargingenabled parking space influenced media data to one or more televisions(TVs) in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 21 depicts a block diagram illustrating the EV charger server 122of FIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description and drawings are illustrative and are not tobe construed as limiting. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a thorough understanding of the disclosure. However, in certaininstances, well-known or conventional details are not described in orderto avoid obscuring the description. References to “one embodiment” or“an embodiment” in the present disclosure can be, but not necessarilyare, references to the same embodiment and such references mean at leastone of the embodiments.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not for other embodiments.

The terms used in this specification generally have their ordinarymeanings in the art, within the context of the disclosure, and in thespecific context where each term is used. Certain terms that are used todescribe the disclosure are discussed below, or elsewhere in thespecification, to provide additional guidance to the practitionerregarding the description of the disclosure. For convenience, certainterms may be highlighted, for example using italics and/or quotationmarks. The use of highlighting has no influence on the scope and meaningof a term; the scope and meaning of a term is the same, in the samecontext, whether or not it is highlighted. It will be appreciated thatsame thing can be said in more than one way.

Consequently, alternative language and synonyms may be used for any oneor more of the terms discussed herein, nor is any special significanceto be placed upon whether or not a term is elaborated or discussedherein. Synonyms for certain terms are provided. A recital of one ormore synonyms does not exclude the use of other synonyms. The use ofexamples anywhere in this specification, including examples of any termsdiscussed herein, is illustrative only, and is not intended to furtherlimit the scope and meaning of the disclosure or of any exemplifiedterm. Likewise, the disclosure is not limited to various embodimentsgiven in this specification.

Without intent to limit the scope of the disclosure, examples ofinstruments, apparatus, methods and their related results according tothe embodiments of the present disclosure are given below. Note thattitles or subtitles may be used in the examples for convenience of areader, which in no way should limit the scope of the disclosure. Unlessotherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein havethe same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in theart to which this disclosure pertains. In the case of conflict, thepresent document, including definitions, will control.

Disclosed herein are methods, systems, and devices for electric vehicle(EV) chargers for offsetting costs associated with home based electricvehicle (EV) charging.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram illustrating a system 100 that includesan electric vehicle (EV) charger 102 in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure. The system also includes an EV 104, an EVcharger client application 106. The EV charger 102 has a presence detectarea 108 where a user and their mobile device 110 may be located duringam EV charging session. The mobile device 110 may also include an EVcharger application (app) 112. The system 100 may be configured toprovide charging enabled parking space influenced media data via videoand/or audio using the EV charger 102 and/or the mobile device 110. Thecharging enabled parking space influenced media data may be used tooffset the cost of obtaining, installing, and/or operating the EVcharger 102. The EV charger 102 may also be configured to communicatewith one or more devices over a home area network (HAN), a local areanetwork (LAN) 116, and/or a wide area network (WAN) 118.

An EV charger server application 120 executes on an EV charger sever122. The EV charger server application 120 may determine the chargingenabled parking space influenced media data to be provided by the EVcharger 102 and/or the mobile device 110. Media servers 124, weatherservers 126, traffic servers 128, and/or map servers 130 may directly orindirectly provide the charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata.

The EV charger 102 may also be able to broadcast at least a portion ofthe charging enabled parking space influenced media data over-the-air(OTA) to a plurality of televisions (TVs) such as TV 134A and TV 134B.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram 200 further illustrating the EV charger102 of FIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.The EV charger 102 includes EV charging circuitry 202 and a processor204. The EV charger 102 also includes an electrical interface 206 forconnecting to the local power grid. The electrical interface 206includes electrical connections for Grid Hot 1, Grid Hot 2, GridNeutral, and earth ground as a split-phase grid connection as iscommonly known in the art.

The EV charger 102 also includes an electrical interface 208 forelectrically coupling a charging cord for charging the EV 104 of FIG. 1. The electrical interface 208 may be compliant with a Combined ChargingSystem (CCS) Type 1 connection.

The processor 204 is configured to monitor a Proximity Detection (PD)contact to confirm connection to the EV 104. The processor 204 isfurther configured to monitor a control pilot (CP) contact to maintain acharging rate within a safe operating limit of the EV 104. The EVcharging circuitry 202 is configured to provide AC power to theelectrical interface 208. The EV charging circuitry 202 includes switchcircuitry for enabling and/or disabling AC power to the electricalinterface 208 via a first AC (L1) contact and a second AC (N) contact.The L1 contact and the N contact provide AC power to internal chargingcircuitry within the EV 104. The switch circuitry may include a relayand the relay may be a solid state relay. The EV charging circuitry 202may also include an AC-to-DC rectifier for providing DC power to theelectrical interface 208 via a DC+ contact and a DC− contact. The DC+contact and the DC-contact provide charging current to the battery packof the EV 104 in this scenario.

An address/data bus 210 communicatively couples the processor 204 with amemory 212. In some embodiments, the memory 212 or a portion of thememory 212 may be integrated with the processor 204. The memory 212 mayinclude a combination of volatile memory and non-volatile memory. Insome embodiments the processor 204 and the memory 212 may be embedded ina microcontroller.

The address/data bus 210 also communicatively couples the processor 204with a graphical processing unit (GPU) 214. The GPU 214 iscommunicatively coupled with a graphical user interface (GUI) 216 (e.g.,a touch pad display).

The address/data bus 210 also communicatively couples the processor 204with a WAN interface 218, a LAN interface 220, a personal area network(PAN) interface 222, and a HAN interface 224. The WAN interface 218 maybe compliant with 2G, 3G, 4G, and/or 5G technologies networks includingthe Internet. The LAN interface 220 may include an Ethernet interfaceand/or wireless LAN interfaces such as Wi-Fi (e.g., 802.11a,802.11b/g/n, and/or 802.11ac circuitry). The PAN interface 222 may be aBluetooth® interface. The HAN interface may include a ZigBee® interfaceand/or a Z-Wave® interface. The HAN interface 224 may also provide hubfunctionality for the HAN 114 of FIG. 1 .

A microphone (MIC) 226 is communicatively coupled with the address/databus 210 via an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 228. The address/databus 210 is also communicatively coupled with one or more speakers 230via one or more amplifiers (amps) 232 and one or more digital-to-analogconverters (DACs) 234.

The address/data bus 210 also communicatively couples the processor 204with a camera 236 and a proximity sensor 238. The proximity sensor 238may include an infrared sensor, a Doppler effect sensor, a sonar sensor,and/or the like. The proximity sensor 238 may be used to detect apresence of a user and/or the EV 104 within the presence detect area108. The camera 236 may also be used to detect the presence of the userand/or the EV 104. In certain embodiments, the proximity sensor 238 andthe camera 236 may be used simultaneously to increase the reliability ofpresence detection. One or more global navigation satellite system(GNSS) radios 240 also provide location data to the processor 204 viathe address/data bus 210.

An OTA transmitter 242 is also communicatively coupled with processor204 via the address/data bus 210. The OTA transmitter 242 may includetranscoding circuitry for converting formats of the charging enabledparking space influenced media data. The OTA transmitter 242 may alsoinclude a broadcast receiver and a tuner for determining channelspectrum availability.

The EV charger 102 may also include a battery backup 244.

FIG. 3 depicts a mechanical diagram 300 further illustrating oneembodiment of the EV charger 102 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts a block diagram 400 further illustrating the mobiledevice 110 of FIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The mobile device 110 may be a smart phone (e.g., cellphone), a tablet, a laptop, a smart watch, or the like. The mobiledevice includes a processor 402, a memory 404, a GUI 406, a camera 408,WAN radios 410, LAN radios 412, PAN radios 414, GNSS radios 416, and oneor more accelerometer sensors 418.

In some embodiments the memory 404 or a portion of the memory 404 may beintegrated with the processor 402. The memory 404 may include acombination of volatile memory (e.g., random access memory) andnon-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory). In certain embodiments, theprocessor 402 may be a mobile processor such as the Qualcomm®Snapdragon® mobile processor. For example, the processor 402 may be theSnapdragon® 855 mobile processor. The GUI 406 and may be a touchpaddisplay.

The WAN radios 410 may include 2G, 3G, 4G, and/or 5G technologies. TheLAN radios 412 may include Wi-Fi technologies such as 802.11a,802.11b/g/n, and/or 802.11ac circuitry. The PAN radios 414 may includeBluetooth® and/or BLE technologies.

FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart 500 illustrating a method for providingcharging enabled parking space influenced media data based on userinformation including user survey information in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

In step 502, the method includes detecting a presence of a user within aproximity of a home-based EV charger.

In step 504, the method includes receiving user information includingsurvey information provided by the user.

In step 506, the method includes determining charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data based on the user information.

In step 508, the method includes transmitting the charging enabledparking space influenced media data to a UI associated with thehome-based EV charger.

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart 600 illustrating a method for providingcharging enabled parking space influenced media data based on chargingrelated data associated with a user in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

In step 602, the method includes detecting a presence of a user within aproximity of a home-based EV charger.

In step 604, the method includes receiving charging related dataassociated with the user.

In step 606, the method includes determining charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data based on the user charging data.

In step 608, the method includes transmitting the charging enabledparking space influenced media data to a UI associated with thehome-based EV charger.

FIG. 7 depicts a flowchart 700 illustrating a method for providingcharging enabled parking space influenced media data based on purchasingpattern data in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

In step 702, the method includes receiving purchase information dataassociated with a user.

In step 704, the method includes determining purchasing pattern databased on the purchase information data.

In step 706, the method includes determining charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data based on the purchasing pattern data.

In step 708, the method includes detecting a presence of the user withina proximity of a home-based EV charger.

In step 710, the method includes transmitting the charging enabledparking space influenced media data to a user interface (UI) associatedwith the home-based EV charger upon detecting the presence of the user.

FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart 800 illustrating a method for providingcharging enabled parking space influenced media data including anenvironmental impact index associated with a user in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

In step 802, the method includes detecting a presence of a user within aproximity of a home-based EV charger

In step 804, the method includes receiving user information associatedwith the user

In step 806, the method includes determining charging enabled parkingspace influenced media data based on historical user informationprovided by the user.

In step 808, the method includes transmitting the charging enabledparking space influenced media data to a UI associated with thehome-based EV charger. The charging enabled parking space influencedmedia data comprises an environmental impact index associated the user.

FIG. 9 depicts a flowchart 900 illustrating a method for providing homebased EV chargers to a plurality of users in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure.

In step 902, the method includes determining a first plurality ofavailable charging appointments associated with a first chargingschedule associated with a first home-based EV charger.

In step 904, the method includes providing the first plurality ofavailable charging appointments to a GUI of a first client computingdevice associated with a first user.

In step 906, the method includes providing a first plurality ofestimated costs for charging associated with the first plurality ofavailable charging appointments.

In step 908, the method includes receiving a first appointment selectionof the first plurality of available charging appointments from the firstGUI.

In step 910, the method includes providing a first confirmed chargingappointment indication to the first GUI associated with the firstappointment selection.

FIG. 10 depicts a flowchart 1000 illustrating a method for determiningrelative position of a mobile device to an EV charger in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

In step 1002, the method includes receiving known location dataassociated with a global position of the EV charger, wherein the knownlocation data has an accuracy better than 10 centimeters.

In step 1004, the method includes receiving first GNSS timestamped dataassociated with the EV charger from a first constellation of GNSSsatellites.

In step 1006, the method includes determining first GNSS location databased on the first GNSS timestamped data.

In step 1008, the method includes determining first GNSS error databased on the first GNSS location data and the known location data.

FIG. 11 depicts a flowchart 1100 illustrating a method for providing aplurality of media items to a user interface (e.g. a touchpad display)of a home-based EV charger in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

In step 1102, the method includes determining the plurality of mediaitems for simultaneous viewing on the user interface (UI) associatedwith a home-based EV charger. The plurality of media items may beassociated with a distinct sponsor. At least one of the media items maybe a background for the UI and branded by a sponsor. Another one of themedia items may be a widget and the widget may be branded by a differentsponsor.

In step 1104, the method includes transmitting the plurality of mediaitems to the UI associated with the home-based EV charger. The UI may bea touchpad display and/or the like.

In step 1106, the method includes receiving a timestamp and a mediaidentification associated with an interaction with a media item on thetouchpad display. The timestamp and the media identification are datalogged upon receiving.

FIG. 12 depicts a diagram 1200 illustrating a GUI 1202 of the home basedEV charger in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. TheGUI 1202 includes a plurality of media items as described with FIG. 11 .At least some of the media items are widgets. For example the widgetsmay be clock based widgets, calendar based widgets, weather basedwidgets, and/or the like. The widgets may also include countdown basedwidgets and/or carbon footprint widgets associated with the user and/orhome-based EV charger.

FIG. 13 depicts a diagram 1300 illustrating automated attribute-basedmedia publishing for home-based EV chargers in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. Unique media assets (e.g. mediaitems) are automatically published to home-based EV chargers wherein theattributes of the home-based EV charger and/or attributes of a user ofthe home-based EV charge match the media publishing attributes.Attributes may include state, city, zip code, EV charger IDs, EV modelnumbers, and/or the like.

In example one, publish Disney® themed clock widget to all EV communitymembers that live in zip code 55331, drive a Porsche, shot at Target,and have children under 12. Evee units XYZ and NOP meet criteria.

In example two, publish Rolex-themed clock widget to all EV communitymembers that live in New York City and shop at Nordstrom® departmentstore. EV charger unit ABC meets the criteria.

FIG. 14A and FIG. 14B depict a flow diagram 1400A/B illustrating oneembodiment a participant selection and onboarding process for users andhome-based EV chargers in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Attributes are collected during the onboarding to supportthe automated publishing as described with FIG. 13 . New attributes arecontinually identified and their values are collected over time basedupon ongoing data collection and surveys.

The flow diagram 1400A/B includes selection criteria for legal andtechnical items (e.g., mandatory installation terms and conditions);selection of point of contact (PoC) participants; confirmation anddocumentation receipt of all legal documents; identification anddocumentation of participant attributes and values; assignment anddocumentation of initial passwords to each participant; emailingparticipant Service Set Identifier (SSID) password and installationmanual, sending (i.e. shipping) EV charger; confirming EV charger isregistered and online; and verifying and testing of the EV charger.

In another embodiment, FIG. 15 depicts a diagram 1500 illustrating ahome based EV charger 1502 having a GUI 1504 depicting a plurality ofwidgets in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Eachwidget is independently highlighted on the left and enlarged for detailon the right. In this scenario, the consumer chooses a brand visual oran associated likeness attached to advertising pertaining to aconsumer's profile. As an example, Rolex® may pay a central entity,subsidizing the home based EV charger 1502, $1 for every day a userkeeps the Rolex® watch widget as their clock on the EV's screen. Toinitiate, the central entity may provide a plurality of watch widgets tothe user based on a user's profile. The central entity may suggest aDisney® watch, a Fitbit® watch, an Apple® watch, and the Rolex® watch.But the user ultimately selects the Rolex® watch. The central entityreceives a $1/day from Rolex® and Rolex® receives valuable userinformation that may be used for further advertising or may be furthersold to Rolex® partners. In some embodiments, the central entity mayreceive more or less a $1/day from the advertiser.

This embodiment provides a unique customer experience to be valued andtrusted by the user as non-invasive, invited, and accepted into theirhome via the home based EV charger 1502. This embodiment provides acontent strategy that drives eco-conscious behavioral modification byengaging the user. The embodiment is further built on a foundationalbusiness model including data personalization and localization withrecurring revenue via widget sponsorships. The embodiment includesadvertising/promotion, customer acquisition, energy demand responseservices, e-commerce transactions, loyalty program(s), portfolio datamonetization, social media sponsorship, targeted email usage,application integration/subscription, and a personalized and localizedcustomer experience.

Targeted content is provided to the user on the EV's display. On screenlayout may be programmatically changed or modified by the user and/orthe central entity. Every ‘zone’ on the EV's display may beindependently programmed. Every ‘zone’ may also be independentlymonetized through sponsorships and/or advertising. Every ‘zone’ may alsobe ‘touched’ by the user to reveal additional information. Allpublishing and ‘touch’ interaction is data logged (e.g. HubSpot-CRM).Widgets may include time, weather, etc. Additionally, a background mayhave a sponsorship opportunity via user selection.

FIG. 16 depicts a diagram 1600 illustrating another GUI 1602 that may beprovided by the home based EV charger 1502 of FIG. 15 in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 depicts a flowchart 1700 illustrating a method for providing aGUI to a home based EV charger in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

In step 1702, the method includes determining a plurality of media itemsfor possible simultaneous viewing on a UI associated with a home-basedEV charger.

Determining the plurality of media items may be based on a profile ofthe user. Additionally, artificial intelligence (AI) may be used. Forexample machine learning and/or deep learning may be used in determiningthe plurality of media items. The profile may include user informationprovided by the user. The user information may include user surveyinformation. The user survey information may be requested during a userEV charger account registration by the user. The user information mayalso include user social networking information. The user socialnetworking information may be provided an Instagram® account, a YouTube®account, a Facebook® account, a Twitter® account, a TikTok® account, aPinterest® account, a Snapchat® account, and/or the like. The userinformation may also include user professional networking information.The user professional networking information may be provided by aLinkedIn® account, a Chamber of Commerce account, a SCORE® account, aRotary Club account, and/or the like. The user information may alsoinclude user technical profession organization information. The usertechnical profession organization information may be provided by an ACM®account, a Network Professional Association account, a CompTIA® account,an Association for Women in Computing account, an Association ofInformation Technology Professionals account, a National Society ofProfessional Engineers account, an American Association of EngineeringSocieties account, a Society of Women Engineers account, anInternational Engineering Consortium account, an IEEE® account, and/orthe like. The user information may include also user purchasinginformation. The user purchasing information may include user homeownership information and the user home ownership information mayinclude a user physical address.

Each media item of the plurality of media items may be associated with adistinct sponsor. A first media item of the subset of the plurality ofmedia items may be a background for the UI. The background may bebranded by a first sponsor. A second media item of the plurality ofmedia items may be a widget for the UI. The widget may be branded by asecond sponsor. The widget may be a clock based widget. A calendar basedwidget, a weather based widget, a countdown based widget, and/or thelike. The countdown based widget may be associated with a remainingcharge time of an EV being charged by the home-based EV charger. Thewidget may be associated with a ranking of EV energy use associated witha user as compared with a plurality of other users. The widget may alsobe associated with a carbon footprint of a user.

In step 1704, the method further includes providing representations ofthe plurality of media items to the UI.

In step 1706, the method further includes receiving a selectionrepresenting a subset of the plurality of media items from the UI.

In step 1708, the method further includes transmitting the subset of theplurality of media items to the UI.

FIG. 18 depicts a flowchart 1800 illustrating another method forproviding a GUI to a home based EV charger in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure.

In step 1802, the method includes determining a plurality of media itemsfor possible simultaneous viewing on a first UI implemented within ahome-based EV charger. Determining the plurality of media items may bebased on a profile of the user. Additionally, artificial intelligence(AI) may be used. For example machine learning and/or deep learning maybe used in determining the plurality of media items. The profile may besimilar to the profile described in step 1702 of FIG. 17 . The pluralityof media items may include a background and one or more widgets as alsodescribed in step 1702 of FIG. 17 .

In step 1804, the method further includes providing representations ofthe plurality of media items to a second UI associated with a user ofthe home based EV charger.

In step 1808, the method further includes receiving a selectionrepresenting a subset of the plurality of media items from the secondUI.

In step 1808, the method further includes transmitting the subset of theplurality of media items to the first UI.

FIG. 19 depicts a block diagram 1900 illustrating the home based EVcharger 1502 of FIG. 15 in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. The home based EV charger 1502 is configured to provideautomated attribute-based media publishing and operate as an IoT device.

The home based EV charger 1502 includes a Raspberry Pi® computer, awireless router (802.11), 21.5 inch diagonal touchscreen display, anAC-to-DC dual USB power supply, a 12 AC-DC power supply, a MonkMakes®speaker, an IoTecha LIVA™ EV charger, and a motion sensor (not shown inFIG. 19 ). The home based EV charger 1502 also includes a Raspberry PiOS operating system (OS) with ZCast® asset/media management and mediaplayer. The home based EV charger 1502 is configured for remote updatingcapabilities and is SOC 2 compliant.

The home based EV charger 1502 is configured to display a plurality ofwidgets (e.g. GUI 1504 of FIG. 15 and GUI 1602 of FIG. 16 ). Theplurality of widgets is optimized using Zignage zCast software, and isfully operational, programmable, with complete data logging.

The home based EV charger 1502 is further configured for publishing andtouch events. For example, when the motion sensor detects a humanpresence one or more events may be triggered. The event may time outafter a fixed time (e.g. 30 seconds) when the human presence is nolonger detected. All ‘events’ and published media within each event aretime stamped and data logged. For example, logged data may be exportedas .csv files.

When the home based EV charger 1502 first powers up, a user may berequired to connect to a local Wi-Fi access point and the complete acustomer registration. After that, the home based EV charger 1502displays the plurality of widgets and follows motion sensor rules.

FIG. 20 depicts a flowchart 2000 illustrating a method for providing atleast a portion on charging enabled parking space influenced media datato one or more televisions (TVs) in accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The method is implemented on an EV charger having abroadcast transmitter, a broadcast receiver, a tuner, transcodingcircuitry, and a network interface (e.g., the EV charger 102 of FIG. 1and FIG. 2 ).

In step 2002, the method includes determining channel spectrumavailability using the broadcast receiver and the tuner. In otherembodiments, the channel spectrum availability may be received over thenetwork interface based on a physical location of the EV charger. Forexample, the channel spectrum availability may be determined based on azip code of the physical location.

In step 2004, the method further includes receiving charging enabledparking space influenced media data over the network interface (e.g.,the WAN interface 218 or the LAN interface 220 of FIG. 2 ). The chargingenabled parking space influenced media data may be received over theInternet. In some embodiments, the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data may be determined based on user information. Theuser information may include user survey information, user socialnetworking information, and/or the like.

In step 2006, the method further includes transcoding the chargingenabled parking space influenced media data to provide transcodedcharging enabled parking space influenced media data

In step 2008, the method further includes transmitting the transcodedcharging enabled parking space influenced media data via the broadcasttransmitter to the one or more TVs. In some embodiments, the transcodedcharging enabled parking space influenced media data may be used tooffset costs associated with home-based EV charging.

In certain embodiments, the charging enabled parking space influencedmedia data may be in an MPEG-4 (Moving Picture Experts Group) compliantformat and the transcoded charging enabled parking space influencedmedia data may be in an MPEG-2 compliant format.

FIG. 21 depicts a block diagram 2100 illustrating the EV charger server122 of FIG. 1 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.The EV charger server 122 includes at least one of processor 2102, amain memory 2104, a storage memory (e.g., database) 2106, a datacenternetwork interface 2108, and an administration user interface (UI) 2110.The EV charger server 122 may be configured to host an Ubuntu® server.In some embodiments Ubuntu® server may be distributed over a pluralityof hardware servers using hypervisor technology.

The processor 2102 may be a multi-core server class processor suitablefor hardware virtualization. The processor may support at least a 64-bitarchitecture and a single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instructionset. The main memory 2104 may include a combination of volatile memory(e.g., random access memory) and non-volatile memory (e.g., flashmemory). The database 2106 may include one or more hard drives. Thedatabase 2106 may be configured to store a plurality of charging enabledparking space influenced media data.

The datacenter network interface 2108 may provide one or more high-speedcommunication ports to the data center switches, routers, and/or networkstorage appliances. The datacenter network interface 2108 may includehigh-speed optical Ethernet, InfiniB and (IB), Internet Small ComputerSystem Interface (iSCSI), and/or Fibre Channel interfaces. Theadministration UI may support local and/or remote configuration of theEV charger server 122 by a datacenter administrator.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method implemented on an electric vehicle (EV)charger having a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio and aprocessor, the method comprising: receiving known location dataincluding a global position of the EV charger, wherein the knownlocation data has an accuracy better than 10 centimeters; receiving,from the GNSS radio, first GNSS timestamped data associated with the EVcharger from a first constellation of GNSS satellites; determining, bythe processor, first GNSS location data based on the first GNSStimestamped data; determining, by the processor, first GNSS error databased on the first GNSS location data and the known location data; andtransmitting the first GNSS error data to a mobile device, wherein themobile device is configured to determine a relative position to the EVcharger based on the first GNSS error data.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the mobile device is at least one of an EV, a smart phone, asmart tablet, and a smart watch.
 3. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising providing charging enabled parking space influenced mediadata to a user interface (UI) associated with the EV charger based onthe relative position.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:receiving second GNSS timestamped data associated with a mobile devicewithin proximity of the EV charger and at least a portion of the firstconstellation of GNSS satellites; and determining a relative position ofthe mobile device to the EV charger based on the second GNSS timestampeddata and the first GNSS error data.
 5. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: receiving second GNSS location data associated with a mobiledevice within proximity of the EV charger, wherein second GNSS locationdata was determined based on second GNSS timestamped data associatedwith the mobile device and at least a portion of the first constellationof GNSS satellites; and determining a relative position of the mobiledevice to the EV charger based on the second GNSS timestamped data andthe first GNSS error data.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the mobiledevice is at least one of an EV, a smart phone, a smart tablet, and asmart watch.
 7. The method of claim 6 further comprising providingcharging enabled parking space influenced media data to a user interface(UI) associated with the EV charger based on the relative position. 8.The method of claim 7, wherein the charging enabled parking spaceinfluenced media data is used to offset costs associated with home-basedEV charging.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the charging enabledparking space influenced media data is further based on userinformation.
 10. The method of claim 9, the user information comprisesuser survey information.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the usersurvey information is requested during a user EV charger accountregistration by a user.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the userinformation comprises user social networking information.
 13. The methodof claim 1, wherein the known location data has an accuracy better than500 centimeters.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the known locationdata has an accuracy better than 20 centimeters.
 15. The method of claim1, wherein the known location data has an accuracy better than 10centimeters.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the known location datahas an accuracy better than 5 centimeters.
 17. The method of claim 1,wherein the known location data has an accuracy better than 2centimeters.
 18. An electric vehicle (EV) charger comprising: EVcharging circuitry; a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio; amemory; and at least one processor configured for: receiving knownlocation data including a global position of the EV charger, wherein theknown location data has an accuracy better than 10 centimeters;receiving, from the GNSS radio, first GNSS timestamped data associatedwith the EV charger from a first constellation of GNSS satellites;determining first GNSS location data based on the first GNSS timestampeddata; determining first GNSS error data based on the first GNSS locationdata and the known location data; and transmitting the first GNSS errordata to a mobile device, wherein the mobile device is configured todetermine a relative position to the EV charger based on the first GNSSerror data.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions tobe implemented on an electric vehicle (EV) charger including at leastone processor and a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio, theinstructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the atleast one computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:receiving known location data including a global position of the EVcharger, wherein the known location data has an accuracy better than 10centimeters; receiving, from the GNSS radio, first GNSS timestamped dataassociated with the EV charger from a first constellation of GNSSsatellites; determining first GNSS location data based on the first GNSStimestamped data; determining first GNSS error data based on the firstGNSS location data and the known location data; and transmitting thefirst GNSS error data to a mobile device, wherein the mobile device isconfigured to determine a relative position to the EV charger based onthe first GNSS error data.